UCLA Football Preview: NCCU Offense Will Play Right into the Strength of the Bruin Defense
UCLA Football Preview: NCCU Offense Will Play Right into the Strength of the Bruin Defense
The Eagles like to run the ball. UCLA likes to stop the run. Enough said.
This morning, we learned that the North Carolina Central special teams aren’t all that special. Now, let’s take a look at the Eagles’ offense. Despite lining up with three receivers and a tight end, the NCCU offense is a run-first offense. Of 123 offensive play this season, 72 of them have been rushing attempts while just 51 have been pass attempts. That’s 58.5% rushing and 41.5% passing.
The Eagles have gained almost as many yards on the ground as they have through the air. They are averaging 397.5 yards per game with an average of 202 passing yards per game and 195.5 rushing yards per game. They are gaining 5.4 yards per carry on the ground while gaining 11.5 yards per completion with the pass.
Meanwhile, six of their ten touchdowns have been scored on running plays and just three have come through the air. “Wait!” you say. “That’s only nine!” Yeah, our coaching and special team preview mentioned that Brandon Codrington took a punt return 81 yards for a touchdown. That’s where the tenth one came from.
So, on paper, NCCU’s offense seems to match up very favorably for a Bruin defense which has stifled the rushing attack of their first two opponents. I expect that trend to continue on Saturday.
Assuming it does, I expect UCLA to hold the Eagles to 10 points or less.
Let’s look at NCCU’s offensive personnel.
Quarterback
Senior Davius Richard will start at quarterback for the Eagles. This season, Richard has completed 30 of 45 for 363 yards with three touchdowns and just one interception. That’s not overly impressive for a college quarterback, but it’s important to remember that NCCU will run the ball 58.5% of the time.
What is impressive about Richard, though, is his ability to run the football. He has 22 carries for 138 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. That makes him the team’s second-best runner behind running back Latrell Collier. In fact, he’s averaging 68.3 yards per game rushing, which is more yards per game than the Bruins gave up in either of their first two games.
The threat posed by Richard running the ball is significant enough that it’s more yards per game than UCLA has given up so far and, again, he’s still North Carolina Central’s second-best rushing threat.
Expect to see some of junior Walker Harris once the game is clearly over. Two weeks against Winston-Salem State, he saw his first, and only, action of this season. In that game, he played most of the fourth quarter. So, it’s very possible that he will see some action late in the game.
Running Backs
While Davius Richard is the team’s second-best rusher so far, their primary running back is redshirt senior Latrell Collier. So far this season, Collier has carried 33 times for 167 yards and three touchdowns. So, those two guys are the ones that the Bruin defense will need to stuff if they want to keep their streak of games allowing less than 100 yards rushing going.
Backing up Collier is junior J’Mari Taylor. Taylor has carried 10 times this season for 55 yards.
Passing Game
Given that the NCCU offense is primarily a run-heavy offense, it should be of no surprise that the Eagles’ top receiver is, in fact, running back Latrell Collier. Collier leads the team with five receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown.
Among the actual receivers, Quentin McCall has the most receiving yards with 93 yards, though that’s boosted by the fact that one of his two receptions was an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Freshman receiver Markell Quick is third with 47 yards on two receptions. Sophomore Joaquin Davis leads the team in receptions with eight even though he only has the fourth-most receiving yards with 45.
Rounding out the top five pass catchers is backup RB Taylor who has five catches for 29 yards.
North Carolina Central doesn’t seem to throw much to their tight ends. Starter Matthew Brown has two catches for seven yards while backup Luke Bracey has just one catch for eight.
The bottom line here seems to be that the NCCU passing game is really used to set up the run and as an extension of the rushing attack by throwing it often to the running back.
Offensive Line
For a team which relies on the running game as much as the Eagles do, you’d think they’d have a lot of experience on the offensive line, but they don’t. There are no senior offensive linemen listed on the two-deep.
In fact, on paper, it looks like the Bruin defense may be able to exploit their youth and inexperience, especially on the left side. That’s where you will find redshirt freshman Trevon Humphrey at left tackle and true freshman A.C. McMoore at left guard.
Junior Torricelli Simpkins III starts in the middle at center, giving them someone with a little more experience. He has started in almost every game NCCU has played since he was a freshman.
Over on the right side, transfer Da’Quan Thomas will start at tackle while sophomore Seven Warren will be at guard. While Thomas is a redshirt junior, this is his fifth season of college football. He started at Florida before transferring to NCCU in 2020. Due to COVID wiping out the Eagles’ 2020 season entirely, he was still a redshirt freshman in 2021 and he’s been starting ever since then. Warren has less experience. He played in just three games last season before starting the first two games this year.
Overall, this is a very young offensive line and UCLA’s defensive front should be able to give them fits.
Analysis
Even without looking at any tape, it’s easy to know what this team’s tendencies are. They run the ball almost 60% of the time and, even when they throw it, they are still trying to get the ball into the hands of their offensive playmaker, Latrell Collier.
If the Bruins stop Collier and Richard from running the ball, the game should be over by halftime.
Go Bruins!!!
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